Running head: ARTIFACT K1

Artifact K1 Caitlin Cairncross

ARTIFACT K1 Creating my portfolio has been a challenging but rewarding process. There were moments where I felt that I was able to synthesize all my different experiences and draw

connections between coursework and professional experiences. There were also moments where I felt overwhelmed by the amount of critical thought and reflection that needed to be done (specifically for the learning outcome narratives). However, now that I am approaching the end of my first draft, I am better able to understand what this process has meant to me, and what I have gained from creating my portfolio. The first thing I learned is that I sometimes get too caught up in the micro level of my experiences I have my head down, simply trying to balance all the different things I need to do and all the different roles I have, and I forget to step back and look at the bigger picture. I dont think this is necessarily an abnormal reaction, and at certain points it felt like I was just doing what I needed to get by. However, in reflecting on all the experiences I have had over the past two years, I get somewhat frustrated with myself in my inability to stop focusing so much on my daily tasks and to focus more on the experience as a whole. I wish I had taken more time to ask myself why is this experience important and what do I want out of this experience? Reflection plays a big role in this process, and in the future I will need to be more intentional about taking time to reflect on my experiences, particularly when I am no longer be required to do so. In a similar way, putting together my portfolio also helped me make connections between classroom and professional life that I hadnt automatically made. Revisiting some of the work I had done (especially my final group project for Student Development Theory and my final report for American Community College) reminded me of the research we did and the best practices we uncovered, and how applicable it is to much of

ARTIFACT K1 the work that I am doing now. For example, the project I worked on for Student Development Theory gave me the opportunity to learn more about an area of social justice that I had very little familiarity with (linguistic diversity) as well as to learn how to use this knowledge to help others increase their multicultural competency. This is a

skill that I will continue to use throughout my career, and it was valuable for me to revisit these projects to remind myself of the valuable connections between my coursework and my professional work. One of the most important things I learned through creating my portfolio is the value of communicating with others to help me process my experiences. I typically consider myself an internal processor, but once I started talking to friends, mentors, and coworkers about my portfolio, I found that the process became much more meaningful and much less overwhelming. Even though my experiences may not be the same as my peers, or my mentors and coworkers may not be totally familiar with the portfolio project, just talking about it helped the reflection process. Overall, I think the act of piecing together different experiences, whether curricular or career oriented, is important, and is something we dont always have the opportunity or time to do. Although it was at times painstaking, I appreciate the value of building my portfolio, and I feel that I am leaving with a much more holistic and profound understanding of my time in the SDA program.